The Institute was one of the earliest institutions to be approved by the Academic Degree office of the State Council to train Ph.D. and Master’s degree students and it was one of the earliest postgraduate training bases for the Chinese Academy of Sciences. Doctoral and Master’s degrees awarded cover the three A-class disciplines of geology, geophysics, geological resources and geological engineering, and the B-class discipline of marine geology. In order to improving training of professional personnel and according to the state’s stipulations to set up specialized subjects, the B-class disciplines of mineralogy, petrology, ore deposit, geochemistry, stratigraphy and paleontology, structural geology, quaternary geology and geobiology are set up under the A-class discipline of geology and the B-class disciplines of solid Earth geophysics, space physics, geodynamics and the Earth and space observation disciplines are set up under the A-class discipline of geophysics. To promote interdisciplinary collaborations the Institute has created an integrated system combining specializations in geology, geophysics, geological resources and geological engineering, and marine geology. The Institute emphasizes the cultivation and enhancement of the research capacity of multi-discipline collaborative scientific research and creative thinking based on a broad range of skills.

The Institute has a highly qualified supervisor team. At present, the institute has 126 Doctoral supervisors and 103 Master’s supervisors, which includes 14 members of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, 1 member of the Chinese Academy of Engineering, 33 National Outstanding Youth Fund winners, 7 nominees of the “Thousand Talents Plan”, 18 nominees of the “Hundred Talents Plan” of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, 7 Chief Scientists of the National Key Basic Research and Development Program (973), and 5 Innovative Research Groups of the National Natural Science Foundation. The Institute has a first-class scientific research environment in which students can fulfill scientific research, which includes 1 State Key Laboratory, 1 National Field Research Station, and 6 CAS Key Laboratories.

The institute recruits about 80 Master’s and 100 Doctoral postgraduates every year. At present, the institute has 592 postgraduates, which includes 396 doctoral postgraduates and 196 master postgraduates. Since 2000, 1277 graduates have received their academic degrees from the Institute: 993 Doctoral degrees and 284 Master’s degrees. Four postgraduates were awarded the national excellent doctoral thesis prize, 8 postgraduates were awarded the CAS excellent doctoral thesis prize, and 1 postgraduate was awarded the Lisiguang excellent doctor prize.